17-Year-Old vs the 8x World Champion | Euro RX of Latvia 2026

This is three sets, two sets of teammates here. So you've got Reds RX on the outside, which is Rutgen and the Topanen, but they're also in the same tent as Baccarin at Set Promotion and Bergen Motorsport Evolution. And then, of course, on the inside, the KMS teammates. Topanen with the best start. Christophsen not going to get there. Baccarin shuts the door in his face. Topanen gets the hole shot. Rutgen around the outside now. And Johan coming to P5. His teammate gets around the outside, baby. Christophsen inside. And he's out. Teammate gets the move done past OC Baby there. Look at the flames in the back of Christophsen's car. Topanen leads. Christophsen got absolutely blocked off there in the first corner. Brilliant start from the three set promotion car. Run cars on the outside. Baccarin was brave enough to shut the door. Johan McRae in the bumper. Put the Ford Fiesta into Turn 2. Look at all the marks on the back of the car. Christophsen will surely take this. Baccarin jokers. Baccarin jokers out of the traffic. Baby follows. So Christophsen stays out now. So Baccarin's gone early to try and cover off Christophsen, hasn't he? Christophsen's in the traffic. He's tucked right up behind Juha Rutgen. And that gives him a lot to face. Rutgen's coming back. Rutgen on the inside now. But he's not late enough. So that was wildly, wildly close. But what a brilliant pass. Brilliant job from both of them. Rutgen was very fair there, I'd have to say, to Johan Christophsen. This is how this is about. Baccarin versus Christophsen for me now in terms of the joker. Whether or not Baccarin, whether or not Johan will go. I don't think he will. I think he'll stay out now, only surely. He has to. He has to get some free air and try and close the gap that little bit. Because he's worried about Topain. And he's not particularly worried about Baccarin. That's why Baccarin went early, I'm sure, is to cover Christophsen's usual tactic. Because in the last few years, if Christophsen hasn't had the lead, he's always joking the free air. And when you're in a fast race like this, you can do that joker. Because you know you're not going to get held up by the other cars. So this is an absolutely fascinating encounter. Topain and Christophsen. Can a Baccarin invade both jokers? You're on board with Baccarin. The visors up this time because the light levels are down. And Christophsen, Topain. Topain has to stay out. He has to stay out. Don't go now. How far back is Baccarin from Christophsen now? Christophsen to Baccarin. It's two seconds exactly. It's outside across the split. Yeah, it's not. Christophsen would get him. He's 1.5. He's roughly what the delta is. Topain stays out here. So patient on the throttle in the polo is Jan Christophsen. The diffs in that car work so nicely. The car looks so compliant. Closing on the back of Topain. Interesting how the three separate motion cars got such a better stock of cars on the inside. It does. It just shows. Oh, Baccarin backing it in big time. Baccarin with him. They needed to have jokered Ruttgenen already, Andrew. Yeah, it's too late. And now Baccarin's being held up by Ruttgenen. It's very, very good. But Baccarin here for me is a victory. Look at the patience in this corner not to get the understeer on the exit. So Christophsen after an absolute disaster in Turn 1 has done Christophsen things. And he's right behind Topain. And Topain, the youngster, I'm sure won't crumble under this pressure. Baccarin on the inside, trying to find a way to find those tents he needs to get in front of Johan. Topain keeps it tight. Baccarin round the outside line. Topain coming in. Baccarin's going to try and get Johan Christophsen. Baccarin gets Johan at the final corner. Topain takes a win. He took a win last year in Finland in a session. But this is a brilliant win for the youngster against the highest of competition. And now we're on for a bit of a race this season. We saw a lot of respect there in the first couple of corners. We saw a lot of team drivers working together. They boxed off Johan Christophsen because they knew they had to do that. So often KMS have been good at boxing off other drivers, using OCVAB to help Christophsen or vice versa to get OC on the championship podium. Whatever. When you've got other people in your camp, it makes such a difference. This is what we said about that, wasn't it? Three teammates, kind of, kind of. And two teammates. And a brilliant start. We love Johan. He is the benchmark. We want him here to be raced, because that for Jonny Topain is a massive result. He has just won a qualifying session with the biggest entry in the European Rallycross Championship for many, many years. And look at the names behind him. Look at the gap between Baccarin and Christophsen. It's tiny. Christophsen, I think, was almost looking to try and get traction and get the inside of Topain on the way out. But also to cover off Baccarin. And Baccarin went round the outside. Brilliant. Let's have a look back at the start, then. The two Finnish promotion cars on the outside made near-identical launches. This is Baccarin we're on board with, letting Topain run free around the outside. Baccarin, meanwhile, has turned into Christophsen in Turn 1. There's Christophsen stuck on the outside. Look at this. Look. I think he touches the barrier on the inside. Oh, so he wasn't letting him go there. It was just, I'm coming through. Sorry. And this is Rukhtinen. I thought he was going to hold on to the place here. I think other people might have thought of the issue there. But Rukhtinen, you will never see him in a big scrap. No, he's too much of a gent there. But fair enough. Say, brilliant driver. How? What? I'm excited. Are you excited? That was great, yeah. Look at the merge at the Joker for the final time. Topainen covering off Christophsen on the inside. Baccarin to take it by a tenth of a second against your own Christophsen. Great job. Absolutely fantastic.